


Disorder

by theguybelowmesucks



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Character with disorder, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 10:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1043651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theguybelowmesucks/pseuds/theguybelowmesucks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin starts his first day at Rooster Teeth, but Michael was left unaware of Gavin’s disorder and mistakes him for just being an irritating newbie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Got a new guy starting today,” Geoff announced in the Achievement Hunter office. All three men turned around.

“We do?” Ray asked, a little shocked.

“Yep.” Geoff leaned back into his chair with a sigh. “Michael, he’s sitting next to you.”

The Jersey rolled his eyes. “You would, Geoff.”

Geoff chuckled and shrugged. “Well, you know.”

And, at this moment, the door opened. The new guy walked in—his arms trembling and his face a little red. Michael’s eyes narrowed—the new guy was scrawny, but he didn’t think he’d be trembling from what may be fear.

“We don’t bite…” Michael muttered, his eyebrows furrowing. The new guy chuckled and nodded, setting his stuff on the empty desk—two monitors only inhabiting the spot.

“I know,” He muttered, looking the other way. Geoff got up from his chair and walked to the new guy, patting him on the back.

“Guys, this is Gavin Free.” Geoff pointed to Gavin. “He’s from the UK, and has been wanting to work with us for several years. Just hired him a few days ago, but he had to travel here by plane. He’ll be living with me for the meaning until he finds a place.”

Gavin muttered a little ‘Hi’ and gave a sheepish smile. Geoff pointed to the other men.

“The man that will be sitting next to you is Michael Jones—don’t be afraid of him, all right? He gets a little irritated now and then but you’ll be used to it.

“The man sitting behind you is Jack Patillo—you already know him, but just for clarification.

“And the man sitting beside Michael is Ray Narvaez Jr., who had just started pretty recently. I guess you could say he’s the one who is a bit better than us at video games.” Geoff smiled, giving Ray a thumbs up. “And I sit behind Ray.”

Gavin nodded, taking all of the information in. “…All right.” Gavin sighed and took a seat in his chair. “Great! It’s nice to meet all you lads.”

Michael watched the Brit get situated in his desk. “ _I don’t know what it is about him, but I think I really want to punch him in the face._ ” Michael grew irritated even more just by looking at his face—and Michael didn’t know what he was going to do about it. It’s not like he could terrorize the new guy on his first day, but Michael was so tempted to do something to him.

It was Thursday—Rage Quit Thursday to be exact, and Michael hoped that it wouldn’t be the terrorizing that would make Gavin leave.

So, Michael started up the game that he was going to Rage Quit on today, and he got everything set up. Gavin watched intently, not possibly not knowing what he would be in for. Michael snickered to himself before he pressed the ‘record’ button.

Not even two minutes into the recording, Gavin clapped. Just one clap, and it wasn’t an applause or anything. Michael jumped, and slowly turned to Gavin. Gavin kept watching the screen, acting as if it never happened. Michael rolled his eyes and turned back to the video game.

Geoff noticed this, and he grimaced. He knew what was about to come, soon enough. He just didn’t want to bother Michael anymore than he already was.

Now halfway through the recording, Gavin clapped again. Michael gripped the controller in anger and gritted his teeth.  _“Does this asshole not understand that he can’t make noise during a recording? Fucking dick._ ” He closed his eyes and calmed down, refraining himself from possibly losing his job. Geoff observed intently.

And, to top it off, Gavin clapped again right at the end of the recording. Michael pressed the ‘stop’ button and jumped up from his chair, walking over to Gavin and picking him up by the collar of his shirt.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but if you fucking clap again like that in the middle of my recording, we’re going to have some problems. Got it?” He glared into Gavin’s eyes, which were filled with fear. Gavin breathed heavily, looking around for help.

“I-I’m sorry, Michael. You don’t—”

“I don’t, what?” Michael inquiried, pulling Gavin closer. “Tell me.”

At this point, Geoff got up from his chair. “Woah, okay.” He pulled Michael away from Gavin, and Gavin gave a sigh of relief.

“What the fuck are you doing, Geoff?” Michael glared at Geoff, not willing to get too violent with his boss.

“Just chill for a minute.” Geoff pushed Michael down on his shoulders to make him sit in his chair. “There’s an explanation.”

“There’s no fucking explanation for being an annoying bitch.” Michael retorted, his face red with anger.

“Gavin, why don’t you explain?” Geoff raised his eyebrow, and Gavin jumped.

“Well, I…” Gavin started, and he grimaced. “Geoff must have not told you. You see, Michael.” And he paused in the middle of his explanation to clap. Michael gripped the arms of his chair in effort not to punch Gavin in the face. “I have Tourette Syndrome.”

Michael sighed. “What.”

“Tourette Syndrome. It’s a disorder that causes a person to have a random tic. In my case, my tic is making a single clap.” Gavin frowned. “Lived with it all my life.”

And, at this, Michael started to feel terrible. While he was one who always threatened people because they’re irritating, Gavin had an actual, legit reason to be irritating. Michael frowned.

“My God, I didn’t know.” Michael muttered. “I feel like an ass, now.”

“Well, to be fair, you already were an ass…” Geoff shrugged. “But, whatever.”

Michael shot Geoff a glare that signaled ‘Shut the fuck up’, and Michael looked back to Gavin. “Well, shit. No hard feelings?”

Gavin smiled. “Of course not!”

“He’s actually a really cool guy to be around, Michael.” Geoff nudged the Jersey. “So, don’t let the disorder get you down.”

Michael held out his hand. Gavin looked at it, and then placed his hand in Michael’s. They squeezed their hands together, and gave a handshake.

“D’aww.” Geoff cooed. “Isn’t that adorable.” And then he sighed and sat back down in his chair.

Michael leaned back in his own chair. “Fuck me. I still feel terrible.”

Gavin clapped, making Michael wince. “Don’t. I’m the one who should feel bad.”

“It’s not your fucking fault!” Michael exclaimed. “Fuck it, what do you like to eat?”

Gavin pondered, thinking about his favorite restaurant. “Well, I really could go for some steak.”

“Steak it is, then.” Michael smiled. “After work, we’ll go out for some supper. To make it up to you since I’m a major asshole, you know. And don’t worry about paying—it’s all on me.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner was more awkward than enjoyable for Michael and Gavin—not to mention that they got into some trouble that was easily resolved.

Dinner wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t too good either. It was a semi-fancy restaurant but people must not like disturbances in the middle of their meal (who would, anyway?). Michael would notice the glares from other people, but he didn’t know what to do. What he knew, though, was that if anybody threatened or messed with Gavin because of his tic, he’d beat their asses. He didn’t care if he’d get kicked out of the restaurant or happened to get arrested.

“Michael, I think we should leave…” Gavin muttered, also noticing the awkward stares.

“No, fuck them!” Michael exclaimed, pointing to their food. “We paid for the food, so we’re going to eat it. It doesn’t matter if you or I cause a fucking disturbance, they just need to mind their own business and tune out the tic. All right?” Michael smiled.

Gavin felt his face turn red, and he looked away. “A-All right…”

And they continued to eat, ignoring the odd stares. Every time they received an odd stare, he wanted to go right up to that person and give them a good punch in the face—but he had to hold himself back unless the right time came up. No need to cause something else for no reason, right? At least, Michael hoped that he could hold himself back. Those stares were judgmental, piercing right through him—and he was sure that Gavin could feel it too. It was at this moment that he wondered how Gavin managed to go out into public like this. He didn’t want to ask Gavin himself because it would be extremely rude (since when did Michael care about that?) but he was really curious.

“All right, let’s go.” Michael commented once he knew Gavin was done eating. Gavin nodded and got up from his seat, pulling out a few dollars of tip for the waitress. Michael frowned. “I’m paying it all, remember?”

“But, I wanted to pitch in—”

“No, you didn’t.” Michael took the dollars off of the table and handed them back to Gavin. “ _I_ got it, all right?”

Gavin watched intently as Michael pulled out the same amount of money from his own wallet and slapped it down on the table. Gavin wondered how Michael’s personality changed so instantly—the first hour that Gavin was there, Michael was ready to punch the life out of Gavin. Now, he seems like a different person—in a way. Gavin felt his heart swell—something he hadn’t felt in a couple of years. Nobody really liked to be around him because of his disorder, but now Michael is putting himself through the irritation he causes just for Gavin.

“Ready to go?” Michael started to walk away and Gavin hurried close behind. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man get out of his seat and walk in their direction.

When they got outside, the man ran up behind Gavin and pulled his shirt, making Gavin nearly fall to the ground. The man turned Gavin around and held tightly onto Gavin’s arm, making it difficult for Gavin to escape his grip.

“What the fuck, man?” The man said through gritted teeth.

Gavin frowned and looked toward Michael, who had started running toward the two. “I’m sor…”

“Shut the fuck up.” The man pulled back his free arm, poised to punch. His arm starting flying toward Gavin, and Gavin winced—ready for the pain. It wasn’t until a few seconds later when Gavin opened one eye and looked, wondering what happened.

Michael had stopped the fist from coming in contact with Gavin’s face. Michael’s hand trembled, holding back the fist.

The man gasped. “Hey—”

Michael let go of the fist and pushed the man back, resulting in the man letting go of Gavin so he could find something to hold onto so he wouldn’t fall. Gavin backed away, watching the scene in front of him.

“You got a problem?” Michael asked him. The man shook his head and backed away.

“No, no.” He got up and walked to the door. “I’m sorry, man. H-have a nice night!” And he hurried inside, fixing his hair and his outfit before walking to his table.

“Fucking bitch,” Michael mumbled before walking up to Gavin and looking him over. “Did he hurt you?”

Gavin, eyes wide and mouth agape, was too shocked to answer the question. Michael’s brows furrowed, and he waved his hand in front of Gavin’s face.

“Hey, Gav?” Michael was concerned. “Did he hurt you or not?”

In response, Gavin clapped. Michael winced and sighed. “I take that as a ‘no’?”

Gavin nodded and smiled, now. “No, he didn’t hurt me.”

“Good.” Michael took a deep breath and turned around. “I’ll drive you home. Is that all right?”

Gavin hummed and started to follow Michael to his car. Once they were in the car and buckled up, Gavin felt like he needed to ask Michael something.

“Hey, Michael?” Gavin turned his head over to him. Michael looked over and started the car.

“Yeah?”

“Are you normally that violent?” Gavin asked, a little shy of asking.

Michael chuckled, leaning back into the seat before backing out of the driveway. “What kind of question is that? But, yes. I guess you could say that.”

Gavin nodded. “Oh.” And he looked out the window, not willing to ask another question. Michael backed out of the driveway.

“You live with Geoff, right?” Michael asked once he was on the road. Gavin jumped, and he nodded.

“Oh, yeah.” Gavin replied, feeling a little timid.

“Why are you so jumpy?” Michael asked, looking at Gavin from the corner of his eye. “Are you scared of me now?”

“No, I’m not!” Gavin started to worry—he didn’t want Michael to get the wrong idea. But before he could continue talking, he had to clap—Michael wasn’t sure if he would ever get used to that. He winced again, keeping an eye on the road so he wouldn’t make them crash. “It’s just that—I don’t know, really.” Gavin sighed, finding it difficult to talk.

“Are you all right?” Michael inquired, becoming concerned now. “I’ll pull over if I have to…”

“It’s all right, Michael.” Gavin breathed, trembling now. He was nervous, for some reason. He didn’t know how to react, and it was difficult for him to even formulate a sentence without panicking and forgetting what he was going to say. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little nervous, I guess?”

Michael nodded, frowning. “Nervous. About what?”

Gavin shifted uncomfortably. “I-I don’t know. It just kind of happened.”

Michael chuckled. “All right, then.”

And for the rest of the car ride to Gavin’s (Geoff’s) home, nobody said anything. The radio played silently in the background, and save for some claps here and there, it was pretty quiet. Gavin wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure of what. He didn’t know what was wrong with him—but he couldn’t shake off that nervous feeling that made him all timid. He hoped Michael didn’t think of him as any weirder than he thought before.

When they finally reached Geoff’s place, Michael parked and looked over. “Well, here you are. I hope I didn’t scare you too much.”

Gavin shook his head. “No, you didn’t! Today was a fun day, save for the odd looks and that man at the restaurant.” Gavin smiled. “Thank you. You paid for me and everything. It wasn’t a cheap dinner.”

Michael shrugged. “I didn’t have a problem paying. I felt like you deserved the dinner after my stupid ass act.”

Gavin frowned. “Well—” He started, but then shrugged. “Thanks again, though. I’ll just have to take you to dinner sometime for the irritation I cause you.”

Michael smiled and nudged Gavin’s arm. “Whatever you want to do, buddy. Have a good night, all right?” Michael waved. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

Gavin nodded, and started to get out of the car. He hesitated for a moment and climbed back in, giving Michael a light kiss on the cheek and ran out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

Michael furrowed his brows and watched Gavin run into the house. Once the door shut, Michael chuckled.

“Oh fuck.” Michael sighed and grinned. “He’s something. I guess that might explain why he was so fuckin’ nervous and jumpy.”


End file.
